I like to think of both myself and my students when I picture my perfect classroom environment. 

When I look back on my student experience, what I remember best about my favorite classes were their ability to keep me interested and engaged.  Then I thought; How did my teachers/professors create that?

Every single one kept the classroom fresh for me.  It’s about keeping, or making, material interesting and relevant.  It’s important to make the personal connections to students to also understand their lives and what interests them.  Knowing that the classroom likes a sports team could help you create an activity using sports and biology.  Knowing that the class is excited for their holiday break could help you create a review game that uses a holiday theme.  Just knowing what your students like, and what they don’t like can be an important tool in the classroom.  If it works, great, if It doesn’t, go back and try something different.

Another important aspect of the classroom environment in my opinion, is the feeling of space that can be created by the movement of students, desks, and focal points.  I think that group activities/projects, individual reflection, the importance of student movement in everyday classroom, technology utilization, and desk movement and classroom arrangement can add variety and further direct that attention and interest that we strive for in our classes.